The only three reasons Kirk Cousins plays as Redskin in 2017

Hard to believe there are only three, but that’s all I’ve been reduced to. Here they are:

Reason 1 – He signs a long-term deal

Duh. Pretty obvious, but still a reason. It’s looking less and less likely as each day goes by though.

Reason 2 – He could be convinced to stay with a successful season

And a mind-bogglingly good offer from the team next offseason. Picture the scene – another winning record, maybe even a playoff appearance. Kirk realises he really is onto a good thing and can achieve something special in DC. Forget Kyle, the Redskins finally show him the love and he signs on long-term.

Yeah… it’s good to dream, right? We just lost our two best receivers, if Kirk can achieve this he really is special.

Reason 3 – The team plans to use the transition tag after 2017

The transition tag works a little like the non-exclusive franchise tag. It would be worth $28m to Kirk next season, though there’s no chance he’d actually make it to the start of the season without a contract. Teams can still approach Kirk and make him an offer, and the Redskins have the right to match the offer. However unlike the franchise tag, there’s no compensation going the other way. Zero. Kirk walks for free, though the team would get a compensatory draft pick the following year.

Why might the team do this? If they match the offer another team makes, they retain Kirk. I can’t imagine how thrilled he’d be about that, but it is on the table. Maybe they’d bank on being able to do that, though it doesn’t exactly match up with their apparent lack of desire to pay him so far.

Bottom line – Kirk has absolutely no trade value beyond this season. If he’s still a Redskin come Week 1 of the 2017 season, Bruce Allen is either one of two things: 1) Really confident or 2) Really dumb.